This guest post is from Ben Donahower who blogs about campaign lawn signs at Campaign Trail Yard Signs. Ben is an authority on political marketing with more than a decade of experience on campaigns.
While Occupy Wall Street’s message is serious, the homemade signs are often anything but. Over the course of these protests, there have been many witty signs, but these are the best of the best. Have a good laugh!
“Greedy Wall Street, Stop Stealing My Bone”
Including his or her pet gets this sign maker a few extra bonus points!
“You Know Things Are Messed Up When Librarians Start Marching”
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the many ways that you could interpret this one.
“I Was Told There Would Be Cake”
The most intellectual of these humorous signs. Thanks to a quick double check on Wikipedia, you can impress your friends next time this quote comes up, because it is misattributed to Marie Antoinette and actually originates from “Confessions” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
“Due to recent budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.”
This one makes you laugh and cry!
“PLEASE Do Not Step On The Chalk Art! I Got Arrested For It!”
The sign itself isn’t terribly funny, but the good-humored response to her arrest makes me smile.
“This Space Intentionally Left Blank”
I’m using this sign as the standard-bearer for all similar signs. Every protest has similar signs including “I’m so mad I made a sign, “My arms are tired from carrying this sign,” or “I’m already regretting making a sign.” They are always crowd favorites and show up on lists like this one!
“Obama Is Not A Brown-Skinned Anti-War Socialist Who Gives Away Free Healthcare… You’re Thinking Of Jesus”
I love how this sign challenges stereotypes. It’s both thought provoking and worth a chuckle.
“EVERYTHING Is OK. Please Continue Shopping”
Tongue and cheek critiques of culture and politics are some of the most effective. This is my favorite sign of this ilk.
“We’re not here for Occupy Sidney. We’re waiting for the iPhone 5”
Unfortunately, this iPhone 5 hopeful had to deal with crowds and never got her phone!
“if I can learn to SHARE, you can too.”
There is a lot going on here! It’s cute, it’s true, and it’s funny!
Occupy Wall Street is tackling a host of serious issues. These protest signs are a fun way to address serious issues.
Back in October, I joined the OWS/Boston. Here are more correctly spelled signs. And one in French. [Gasp!]
http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like.html
It’s great that OWS is taking on so many serious issues but I think their message would be 100 times more effective if they stopped using violence to push those messages. There’s a lot wrong with America, but from the way OWS has acted, they’ve become one of the problems, and not one of the solutions. As it is now their message has been corrupted, fragmented, and entirely lost in the surge of rioting, crime, and violence. How sad.
http://www.politicalbuddies.com
@Poison – I like to keep things in context. The vast majority of the occupiers are nonviolent. Within any large population of people, there are going to be people who motives or tactics are suspect.
The problem is that the right wing noise machine is gong to take any violence out of context and magnify it. There is the danger that Poison will turn out to be right and that the negative publicity, even if exaggerated, becomes harmful. OWS needs to move beyond fighting over occupying parks and public places and concentrate more on getting their message out.
@Poison what an apt handle to use. Were you paid to post that crap? Violence from OWS? Give me a break! The only statistically significant violence has been from the NYPD and other departments across the country AGAINST occupy protesters.
You’re a liar and a snake.
Poison is mischaracterizing the issue in saying OWS is using violence to push their issues. However, while the amount of actual violence caused by OWS is not statistically significant, the amount of news reports claiming violence is not.
Most of this is right wing propaganda. Some is due to the “man bites dog” phenomenon where the news media finds rare episodes of violence to make for a better story. This is a matter which OCS does need to be concerned about. At the moment they are not handling PR well to attract the support of people who aren’t already sympathetic to them. They must concentrate on the issues, not a battle to physically occupy parks.
@Poison – Try again,and this time with the truth!
I agree that the focus needs to be on message. With that said, I’m hopeful that OWS will increase our right to assembly and conversely, worried that the occupy movement will result in some lawsuits that courts will rule in a way that reduces our Constitutional right.
RT @ronchusid: Occupy Wall Street Signs #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/Qf2lxf9u